Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 3.8% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 3.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $306.24 and last traded at $304.20. 8,127,936 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 9,390,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 3.8%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $247.92 billion, a PE ratio of 249.34, a P/E/G ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.